


The Fox and The Bunny

by Baroness_Blixen



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Baby Fic, F/M, Fluff, family fic, goes AU during the Emily arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 07:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14869568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baroness_Blixen/pseuds/Baroness_Blixen
Summary: An evening in the Mulder household. The youngest family member refuses to sleep and Mulder remembers a story.





	The Fox and The Bunny

Mulder rocks the baby back and forth, back and forth. She stares up at him with her big eyes and he finds himself humming a tune; some new song he heard on the radio earlier, a really catchy melody he doesn’t remember the name of. 

“You’re not tired, are you?” He asks his daughter with a smile seeing how alert she is, as if waiting for yet another adventure to start. Scully says she gets that from him. That restlessness. Yet she is the one who couldn’t wait to go back to work, her mind itching. Katie cuddles closer against him and sighs.

“Yeah, I understand. We had a fun day, though, didn’t we?” Mulder runs his hand through the girl’s slightly damp hair. As he does, the sweet smell of the baby shampoo wafts up. Banana, strawberry and vanilla. It sounds, and smells, more like something one should eat. He leaves a kiss against the crown of her head, his eyes drifting close. Unlike his daughter he feels tired, could fall asleep right away.

“Bahbahbah,” Katie gurgles loudly, looking up at him.

“Ball? Are you trying to say ball? We saw Will play basketball today. You’re absolutely right, Katie girl.” Mulder grins at her as she stuffs two fingers into her mouth. He gently removes them from between her teeth. “But now it’s sleep time. What do you say?”

“Hmhmhmhm.”

“Is that your way of agreeing with your old man? No?” Mulder chuckles as Katie watches him silently. He wonders what’s going on in her young mind, what she’s thinking. He can’t wait to hear her first words, to hear her talk nonstop. Like William did. Like Emily did once she felt at home with Scully and later with him as well. They may never know their oldest daughter’s first words, but Mulder remembers the first time she called Scully mom, the first time he was dad to her. The words that really matter.

“Katie still awake?” Speak of the devil. Mulder turns his head to the door where Emily is leaning against the frame. Sometimes, when the light is just right, she looks just like her mother, like Scully. She’s grinning at him and her little sister who reaches for her. Katie loves her two older siblings and would follow them everywhere if she only could. She twists and turns in Mulder’s arms like a small seal and Emily comes closer to take her from him.

“You and mom got home all right?” Mulder asks stretching his arms over his head. How long has he been sitting here with Katie? His muscles and bones protest loudly and both his daughter stare at him before Emily giggles.

“Daddy is getting old, Kit.” She buries her nose in the baby’s hair, hiding her smile. “You should tell her a story,” she says to Mulder, gently rubbing Katie’s back. He glances at her, at two of the most important people in his life. When did Emily grow up? Was he there? Did he see it? He feels like it was yesterday that she hid behind him when Santa came for Christmas. Or when she squeezed his hand tightly because she was scared to go to school alone. When did all of this happen?

“Hey dad.” Emily waves a hand in front of his face. “Did you hear me?”

“I did. A story.” He nods, turns to inspect the book shelf. They have more children’s books than he ever thought possible. There are the books Emily loved a child and there are others that William went crazy over. They had to add another shelf once he started reading, too. There’s plenty to pick from and Mulder lets his finger wander over the books. His nose tickles as he comes away with a flurry of dust. He makes a mental note to clean here – tomorrow.

“You should tell her the one you used to tell me as a child.” Emily hands the baby back to Mulder as she begins to fuss. Katie is warm against him, tired and heavy in his arms. But her eyes are determined; she won’t sleep, not yet.

“Which one?” The rocking chair creaks as Mulder sits back down. He gently rocks them, hoping the movement will lull the girl to sleep anyway.

“The one about the bunny and the fox. Unless you don’t remember it.”

“As if I could forget that one. You wanted to hear it all the time when you were little. Have I ever told you how I came up with it?” He watches as Emily, shaking her head no, gets comfortable on the floor. She sits cross-legged next to the rocking chair, her attention on him. She looks so much younger than her 24 years right now. Or maybe, he marvels, she’ll always be that same curious, wide-eyed little girl to him. His daughter.

Mulder is about to start telling his story when William appears in the doorway. He’s in his pajamas, his hair sticking in every direction.

“What are you guys doing?” He asks making a grimace at his baby sister, who squeals with laughter.

“We’re trying to get Katie to fall asleep. Don’t make her laugh!” Emily scolds looking exactly like their mother. William bites his lip, tries not to grin. Without another word he too sits on the floor. He nudges Emily’s shoulder with his own and she rolls her eyes, but then she gently punches him back. Both giggle like the small children they once were.

“Do you guys want to hear this story or not?” The two of them nod and as Mulder looks at Katie, she gives him a big, open mouthed grin that he interprets as a yes.

“I came up with the story when young Emily here,” William snorts and Emily, this time not so gently, punches him. He moans in pain, shrugs it off and grins. “I came up with the story,” Mulder repeats, “when Emily was three years old. She’d just come to live with us, well, with your mom, and everything was still new to her.” This time William doesn’t make fun of his sister. He and Scully have never kept Emily’s ambiguous origins a secret. She asked about her father, her real, biological one, when she was 7 and Scully was pregnant with William. Neither of them had an answer for her. They might never do. The fact that she’s here with them, grown up and healthy, is nothing short of a miracle. Mulder never fails to remind them that each of them is a miracle in their own right. As much as they roll their eyes at him for his mushy sentiments.

“One night Emily couldn’t sleep. I was staying over because your mom and I were going over some case reports. We no longer worked together, not really. I missed her so much. Of course I couldn’t tell her that so I came up with all kinds of excuses to see her.” Mulder grins, remembering. Scully left the x-files when Emily, after being declared healthy, came to live with her. It all happened so fast back then. One day she was by his side in the field, the next she was gone. Their relationship up in the air, doing its own special limbo dance, he took every chance he got to see her – and Emily.

“So there I was and Emily was supposed to be sleeping.” Mulder winks at her. “But she couldn’t. Scully – your mom – tried everything she could, but Emily wouldn’t stay in her room. While your mom took a call, I put Emily back to bed for probably the tenth time. It was late and she was barely awake. She asked me if I knew any stories. A story with a happy ending. The only thing on my mind was the last case we, your mom and I, had done together. So I started telling Emily how I got lost in a forest and-”

“You got lost in a forest?” William asks, grinning.

“I did not,” Mulder replies with a stern look, “well, maybe. I didn’t so much get lost as I got hurt by a… a creature.”

“What creature, dad?”

“Let him tell the story, Will,” Emily reminds her brother in a soft voice. Mulder thanks her silently with a small nod.

“I told her that I got lost and she said that a fox never gets lost in a forest. Because she was a little know-it-all even then.”

“Am not.”

“Hey, why can you interrupt, but I can’t?”

“Shut up, Will.”

“Hey kids,” a voice says before Mulder can and they all turn to the door where Scully is standing, glaring at them. She has her arms crossed in front of her chest and looks like a principal. The children go quiet; even Katie is silent though Mulder can tell she wants her mother. Scully might be the smallest person in this household, apart from their baby daughter, but she’s definitely wearing the pants. He smiles at her as a wave of love washes over him. He wouldn’t want it any other way.

“Let’s hear the story,” Scully finishes, her voice turning softer. She gives Mulder a smile and motions for him to continue. She walks towards them and he finds his mouth dry, forgetting his story, everything. Katie stretches her arms out and Scully takes her from Mulder. He gets up to make space for her in the rocking chair and joins his children on the floor.

“Where was I? Oh right. Emily said a fox would never get lost in a forest. I told her this one does. He always gets lost, I said. That’s why he has a partner by his side. She asked me who my partner was and I told her that it was her mom – Dana. Of course that made Emily think. Was Dana a fox, too? Was she a human? And I asked her what she thought her mom should be. She said a bunny.”

“I did?” Emily asks, a soft glow on her cheeks as if embarrassed. Scully puts one of her hands against her oldest daughter’s cheek, smiling. “I don’t remember that at all! I thought you came up with that, dad.”

“No, you did, kiddo. So once it was decided that I was the fox and your mom the bunny, I came up with the story. How the fox gets lost in the forest and the bunny tells him not to worry, because she knows the way home. When the fox hurts himself by accident, the bunny watches over him during the night and makes sure that nothing happens to him. In the morning, the bunny finds the way out of the forest, but the fox is still hurt and he is scared. So the bunny takes him home with her. She wants to make sure that the fox is all right.” Mulder looks up at Scully.

“Did she?” She asks in a low voice, barely above a murmur. Mulder leans his head against her knee, nodding.

“She did. She still does.”

“Why are you guys like this?” William asks, disgust showing on his face.

“One day you’ll understand,” Emily muses and kisses his cheek. He groans and wipes his face with the sleeve of his sweater. “Thanks for telling us, dad. I think Katie liked it, too.” They all look at the baby, safe in Scully’s arms, fast asleep. Mulder falls in love all over again. With Scully, with their baby daughter, with their two other children.

“I’ll put her to bed,” Mulder offers and Scully shakes her head. He understands. She just wants another moment with her, more time.

“Come on, Will,” Emily says, ushering her brother out of the nursery, “you can help me do the dishes.”

“Why?” He asks with a sigh as he lets himself be led out of the room.

“Because I’m older than you.”

“Thank you, Mulder,” Scully says when the grown children are gone. Mulder can still hear the faint noise of them bickering. He hopes this will never change. He knows it will and soon. But right now, right this very moment, he wants to hold on to it.

“For what?” He kisses her thigh, leaves his hand there.

“For being who you are. For being such a wonderful father.” Scully’s eyes are closed, but she’s smiling. She’s still rocking back and forth, back and forth. In a few minutes she will be asleep just like their baby daughter. Carefully he takes Katie away from her, the girl’s arms and legs hanging limply from her body. Mulder kisses her soft, warm cheek and puts her in her bed. She doesn’t stir, sleeps on. When he turns back to Scully, her head is on her shoulder, her breathing even. He knows she hates falling asleep at any given time, everywhere. He, however, loves it. He loves her, simple as that. More than any words could ever convey. So he doesn’t use any tonight. Instead Mulder gently puts his arms under her legs and she grumbles, trying to wake up.

“Shhh, it’s all right, Scully,” he whispers into her ear, picking her up. She’s as light as a feather as he carries her into their bedroom. She clings to him as he puts her down on the bed, her eyes still closed.

“Where you going?”

“I’m just going to make sure the kids don’t flood the kitchen. Sleep, Scully.”

“Hmm. Love you, Mulder.”

“Love you.” He kisses her forehead, watches her smile for a moment before she’s fast asleep again. He stretches again – he really is too old to sit on the floor – and makes his way downstairs. He shakes his head in amusement as he hears William and Emily challenging the other to come up with songs from their childhood. Who knew, Mulder thinks, who would have ever thought this would be his life? He’s no longer spooky Mulder, hasn’t been in a while. He’s a normal guy, a father of three, husband of the remarkable Dr. Dana Scully. This is his life. His perfect, miraculous life.


End file.
